19 December 2011: EU ministers of the environment, meeting in the Environment Council in Brussels, Belgium, on 19 December 2011, exchanged views on the implementation of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, and on the roadmap to a resource-efficient Europe, which had been presented by the Commission in September 2011.

Discussions on the Biodiversity Strategy focused on the concrete measures required to achieve its main targets, to protect species and habitats, maintain and restore ecosystems, anchor biodiversity goals in other EU policies, combat invasive alien species, and step up the EU’s contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. Ministers underlined the need to integrate biodiversity concerns in all sectoral policies, in order to reverse the continuing trends of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and acknowledged that the EU is currently falling behind its 2020 overall headline target.

On the Commission’s “Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe,” Ministers generally acknowledged that the shift towards a sustainable and responsible resource-efficient European economy and society will require, in addition to technological innovation, new governance models, new business and education models, and new consumption patterns and lifestyles geared towards the sustainable management of resources. Some member States called for innovative financial solutions, arguing for closer cooperation with business, and for regulatory, market-based and voluntary schemes to stimulate resource efficiency. The Commission entered a statement in the Council minutes expressing regret that the Council has not adopted more ambitious conclusions. [Council Conclusions]